The Student Loan Repayment Calculator models your monthly payment, total interest cost, and payoff timeline across every major federal and private repayment plan — critical information in a landscape that changed dramatically in 2024–2025. With approximately 43 million Americans holding $1.77 trillion in federal student loan debt, choosing the wrong repayment plan can cost tens of thousands of dollars and delay financial independence by years.

The 2025 federal student loan landscape in brief:

• Interest rates for 2025–2026 (loans disbursed July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026) are set by Congress based on the 10-year Treasury yield. Per the U.S. Department of Education (studentaid.gov): undergraduate Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans: 6.39% fixed; graduate Unsubsidized Loans: 7.94% fixed; Parent and Grad PLUS Loans: 8.94% fixed.
• SAVE Plan terminated: The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan — which offered the lowest monthly payments of any IDR plan — was effectively ended by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted July 4, 2025. Formal statutory termination takes effect July 1, 2028. The Department of Education stopped enrolling new borrowers and, per a December 2025 proposed settlement, will move all ~7 million enrolled SAVE borrowers into other plans. Interest has been accruing again since August 1, 2025, for borrowers in the SAVE forbearance.
• IBR, PAYE, ICR access changing: For loans disbursed after July 1, 2026, IBR, PAYE, and ICR plans will no longer be available — all new Direct Loans will repay under a new income-driven framework called the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), per legislation enacted in 2025.
• PSLF continues: Public Service Loan Forgiveness remains available. The PSLF program (studentaid.gov) has approved forgiveness for over 1 million borrowers since the Biden-era waiver expansions.

This calculator helps you compare Standard, Graduated, Extended, Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and income-contingent options, and quantify the financial value of PSLF eligibility. In Canada, student loan repayment follows different rules under the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP), with Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) options administered by the Government of Canada.

Federal student loan repayment plans use two fundamentally different payment calculation approaches: amortization-based (fixed or graduated fixed payments) and income-driven (payment tied to your income, adjusted annually). Understanding the math of each prevents unpleasant surprises. Per studentaid.gov's repayment plan documentation:

Standard Repayment Plan (10 years):

Income-Based Repayment (IBR):

Pay As You Earn (PAYE — existing loans only):

Key difference between IBR and PAYE: PAYE is capped at the Standard plan payment (so it can never be more than Standard), while IBR (for older borrowers) uses 15%. Both forgive remaining balances after 20–25 years, though forgiven amounts may be taxable as ordinary income unless a future legislative exception applies. The CFPB's student debt repayment guide provides additional plan comparison resources.

Student loan repayment decisions are among the most complex in personal finance. Follow these steps for a rigorous analysis:

1. Find your exact loan details on studentaid.gov. Log in at studentaid.gov with your FSA ID. You'll see each loan's type, original amount, current balance, interest rate, and servicer. Federal student loans have fixed rates locked at disbursement — your 2020 loans at 2.75% and your 2025 loans at 6.39% behave independently and have separate repayment histories for purposes like IBR forgiveness tracking.
2. Identify your current repayment plan and monthly payment. Many borrowers are unaware they were auto-enrolled in Standard Repayment (10 years) after the COVID-19 forbearance ended. If your loan balance has grown since payments resumed, you may have been placed in an administrative forbearance or SAVE forbearance — confirm with your servicer.
3. Enter your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) for income-driven plan modeling. Use your most recent federal tax return's AGI line (Form 1040, Line 11). If your income changed significantly, you can recertify with your new income immediately using the IDR application at studentaid.gov/idr. Income recertification is annual for most IDR plans.
4. Model your PSLF eligibility first if you work in public service. If you're a government employee (federal, state, local, tribal) or work full-time for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, model the PSLF scenario first. PSLF forgives your entire remaining balance after 120 qualifying monthly payments (10 years) — tax-free. On $80,000 in loans at 7%, that can be worth $100,000+ in present value compared to paying in full. File an Employment Certification Form annually with your servicer to track progress.
5. Compare Standard vs. IBR side by side. The calculator shows: monthly payment under each plan, total paid over the loan life, forgiveness amount (if any), and the present value of any forgiven balance. Don't just look at the monthly payment — the total-cost comparison often reveals surprising results. For borrowers with high debt-to-income ratios (loan balance more than 1.5× annual income), IBR with eventual forgiveness often has lower total cost despite a longer payoff period.
6. For private student loans: Enter the loan balance, fixed APR (or variable APR if applicable), and remaining term. Private loans have no income-driven options — your only levers are refinancing, extra payments, or hardship forbearance (lender-specific). Private student loan rates in 2025 range from approximately 4–6% variable to 6–14% fixed, depending heavily on credit score and co-signer status.
7. Account for capitalized interest. If you have unpaid interest that has capitalized (been added to principal), enter the current balance including capitalized interest — not the original loan amount. Interest capitalizes at the end of forbearance periods, when leaving a deferment, and when leaving certain IDR plans. For loans in the SAVE forbearance that began accruing interest again in August 2025, balances may be meaningfully higher than the original disbursement.

Student loan repayment modeling produces several outputs that must be evaluated together — monthly payment alone is almost always the wrong metric for long-term plan selection.

Monthly Payment Comparison

The IBR payment for a single borrower earning $50,000 with $45,000 in loans might be $226/month (10% of $27,120 discretionary income ÷ 12), compared to $502/month on the Standard 10-year plan. However, the Standard plan is paid off in 10 years with $15,240 in total interest, while IBR over 20 years may result in paying $54,240 before forgiveness. If the forgiven balance is large, IBR may still win on total cost — but the forgiven amount may be taxable.

Total Cost of Repayment

The critical number for borrowers not pursuing PSLF. Use this to compare plans: if IBR results in $54,240 paid plus a $12,000 forgiven balance (with a potential tax bill), vs. Standard at $60,240 total with zero forgiveness, Standard actually costs less in total cash if the forgiven balance is taxable. This nuance is why the calculator models total payments, forgiven balance, and estimated tax cost together. Note: the IRS treats most loan forgiveness as taxable income (Topic No. 431), though PSLF forgiveness is permanently tax-free under current law.

PSLF Value (Present Value of Forgiveness)

PSLF forgiveness is tax-free and occurs after just 10 years of qualifying payments. For a borrower with $80,000 at 7.94% in IBR paying $280/month who qualifies for PSLF, they pay $33,600 total vs. $115,000+ if repaid in full on a standard 25-year extended plan. That is an $81,400 benefit — the most valuable single financial optimization available to public sector workers. The Department of Education's PSLF page has updated eligibility guidance for 2025 following the SAVE plan litigation.

Payoff Timeline

Standard: 10 years. IBR/PAYE (no forgiveness): 20–25 years. PSLF path: exactly 10 years (120 qualifying payments). Extended plan: up to 25 years with a balance over $30,000. Your servicer can tell you your exact payment count toward IDR forgiveness or PSLF through the IDR Plan Simulator at studentaid.gov.

Interest Subsidy on IBR/PAYE

Under IBR and PAYE, if your monthly payment doesn't cover all the interest that accrues, the government was previously paying that "unpaid interest subsidy" on subsidized loans for up to 3 years. The SAVE plan had expanded this subsidy dramatically (covering all unpaid interest on both subsidized and unsubsidized loans). With SAVE ending, the subsidy reverts to the older, narrower IBR/PAYE rules. Model your balance trajectory under each plan to ensure you're not accruing unmanageable negative amortization if pursuing long-term forgiveness.

• Act immediately if you're in the SAVE forbearance. Borrowers in the SAVE plan began accruing interest again on August 1, 2025. Your balance is growing monthly with no payment required, which can significantly increase your long-term repayment cost. Proactively apply to switch to IBR (if eligible) or PAYE via studentaid.gov/idr to begin making qualifying payments toward forgiveness or PSLF, and stop the balance from ballooning. Contact your servicer to confirm processing timelines.
• If you're considering PSLF, certify your employment annually. Don't wait until year 10 to verify your employer qualifies. File the Employment Certification Form (now integrated into the PSLF Help Tool at studentaid.gov/pslf) every year and after any job change. Errors in certification are the most common reason PSLF applications are initially denied. Over 1 million borrowers have now received PSLF forgiveness.
• Do not reflexively refinance federal loans to private. For 2025–2026, graduate loan rates are 7.94% and PLUS loans are 8.94% — higher than the best private refinancing rates. But even if you can refinance to 5%, permanently losing PSLF eligibility, IDR plans, and federal forbearance options is an enormous trade-off that a pure rate comparison misses. The Department of Education explicitly warns that federal loan protections are irreversible once you refinance to private.
• File taxes as single if married to optimize IBR/PAYE payments. IBR and PAYE base payments on the AGI reported on your tax return. If you're married and file jointly, your spouse's income is included, significantly raising your payment. Filing separately (Married Filing Separately) caps your payment at just your individual income. The tax cost of filing separately is often less than the student loan payment increase from filing jointly — run the numbers with a tax professional using the marginal rate impact. Note: this strategy reduces or eliminates the student loan interest deduction.
• Make at least $1 in payment during the income-recertification window. Missing your annual income recertification date can remove you from IDR plans and trigger Standard plan payments. Set a calendar reminder 2 months before your recertification date. During transitional periods (like post-SAVE), servicers may be backlogged — submit early.
• On private loans, extra payments dramatically reduce total interest. Private loans have no forgiveness or income-driven safety net — your best option is aggressive paydown. An extra $150/month on a $30,000 private loan at 8% APR reduces the 10-year term by 3 years and saves $5,880 in interest. Target your highest-rate private loan first (avalanche method) since interest rates vary significantly across private loans. The CFPB's student debt repayment center offers additional strategies for private loan borrowers.
• Employer student loan assistance is now tax-free through 2025. Under Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code, employers can contribute up to $5,250 per year toward employee student loan repayment tax-free. Check whether your employer offers this benefit and enroll if so — it's equivalent to a 22–32% return depending on your tax bracket, with zero investment risk.